SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 26: Goalkeeper Antti Niemi #31 of the San Jose Sharks in a shoot-out, blocks the shot of John Mitchell #7 of the Colorado Avalanche the win the game 3-2 in overtime at HP Pavilion on February 26, 2013 in San Jose, California.

John Mitchell is 28 and a Canadian, which means he is excused for never having heard of another famous John Mitchell — the late, former U.S. attorney general in the Nixon Administration who served 19 months in prison for his role in the Watergate affair of the early 1970s.

“Sorry, before my time,” said Mitchell, who plays left wing on the Avalanche’s third line.

Mitchell is making a good name for himself with the Avs. Sacrificed to the free-agent market by the New York Rangers after last season, Mitchell has been quite a find. Entering Sunday’s game against the San Jose Sharks, he has eight goals and 12 points in 22 games and a plus-8 rating. In 63 games with the Rangers last season, he had five goals, 16 points and a plus-10 rating.

If this were an 82-game season, Mitchell would be on pace for about 22 goals.

“I suppose I’m a little bit surprised, because I only had five last year,” Mitchell said after Avalanche’s practice Saturday. “To have eight (goals) in the midpoint of a short season, it’s certainly nice. Hopefully it can keep going. If I would get to 22 or 24 goals in a full season, that would be a very nice number for me. I would definitely like that.”

Mitchell is a natural center, which lends to the surprising nature of his offensive output. While he occasionally played on the wing during his time with the Rangers and, before that, with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he has played center most of his hockey life.

That life began in the hockey-all-the-time at- mosphere of Oakville, Ontario.

Mitchell’s father, also named John, was a hockey player but never made it to the professional ranks. Mitchell showed promise as a skater and became a big scorer on his youth teams.

“He saw promise in me and put me in hockey camps and power-skating lessons and things like that,” Mitchell said of his dad. “Any Canadian father who saw the same things would do that.”

Mitchell became a fifth-round draft pick of the Maple Leafs in 2003. He played parts of three seasons for Toronto from 2008-10, scoring a career-high 12 goals in 2008-09. But he was traded to the Rangers organization and after some time for their American Hockey League team in Harford, Conn., he played a fourth-line center role for coach John Tortorella’s Eastern Conference finals team last season.

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